Nintendo will sell a cheaper $330 Switch 2 in Japan that’s region locked
A more expensive ‘multilingual’ Switch 2 will also be available
Nintendo Switch 2 will only be available region locked from Japanese stores, it’s been revealed.
Likely in an effort to combat foreign resellers looking to take advantage of the weak yen, Nintendo announced on Wednesday that a Switch 2 ‘Japanese/Domestic Only’ version will be the only Switch 2 console available to purchase from general retailers.
The ‘Domestic Only’ console will retail for a cheaper price (49,980 yen, or $334) and will only have Japanese as the console’s language setting, and the only Nintendo account that can be linked will be one created with the country/region setting set to Japan.
A more expensive Switch 2 model with multilingual support, priced at 69,980 yen ($467), will be available to purchase only from the Japanese My Nintendo Store.
Reselling has become a major issue in Japan, with Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stating recently that the company would take steps to combat it with its next console.
Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based game industry consultancy Kantan Games, told VGC that most Japanese consumers would likely not be bothered by the region locked Switch.
“Nintendo is an extremely important market for Nintendo, today more so than ever in its history. The current Switch is only 33,000 yen in Japan – the equivalent of US$220.
“That means Nintendo will again ‘subsidize’ Japanese users with the domestic version of the Switch 2 in order to make sure they continue to dominate the market over here.
“The vast majority of Japanese users do not care about multi-lingual hardware, so the price for the international version is inconsequential.”
